Angry
by Tennoda
Summary: Angry Optimus is scary Optimus. My metal-controlling OC, Dawn, gets herself into trouble and has to face the consequences.


**Char** : In case you're reading this one too, thank you for your comment and liking these short Dawn stories. :) I've got quite a lot of them actually, I just never was sure if they were any good, so I didn't post them here. But I guess I'll be doing that now. x)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Transformers and I do not make any money of these stories.

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The danger was over and Dawn fell to her knees in sheer relief. She couldn't stop shaking as she turned to look at the immobile Autobot lying next to her.

"You still with me?"

"Yeah", Hot Shot responded tiredly. "Still here."

Dawn could hear the other Autobots approaching and knew they had gotten there in the nick of time. A few more minutes and the Decepticons would've killed them. Or more likely, Dawn thought with a shiver, taken them back to their base and to Megatron.

"What about you? Are you okay?" Hot Shot asked with such a ridiculously worried look Dawn almost felt like laughing, though she knew it was probably just because she was still in shock.

"What do you mean? You're the one who took a brutal beating."

Hot Shot frowned. "You know very well what I mean."

Dawn turned away, looking down at the shattered remains of the earpiece she had used to keep in contact with the Autobots. Of course she knew, she just didn't want to talk about it.

"The others are almost here. Optimus will want to know what happened and if you're not going to tell him, I will."

"No!" Dawn exclaimed quickly. "No… I'll tell him…"

They had no more time to talk as three sets of wheels screeched to a halt near them, followed by one landing space shuttle. Dawn looked at the three, Jetfire, Red Alert and Side Swipe transforming, before daring to glance at Optimus.

As soon as Optimus stood up in his bipedal mode, she could tell one thing. He wasn't happy.

"Red Alert, go see to Hot Shot and get him back to base quickly. Jetfire, did you see anyone on the way?"

"No one, Optimus."

"Stay vigilant."

"Yessir!"

Side Swipe's optics widened as he ran to the downed mech. "Hot Shot, bro! Are you alright?!"

Red Alert pushed the over-enthusiastic Autobot aside. "Stand back Side Swipe, I need space."

"You don't look so good either", Jetfire took a closer look at Dawn. "Your face seems to be lacking color."

"I'm fine", she stated faintly, glancing again at Optimus, who still hadn't acknowledged her presence in any way. It was making her increasingly nervous.

"No, you're not", came Hot Shot's remark.

"Better than you at least", she muttered, feeling suddenly like everyone was against her.

"How is he?" Optimus asked Red Alert, ignoring everyone else.

"He's banged up pretty good, but he'll definitely live."

"Good. Then we can return to base and concentrate on finding out exactly how this happened."

Now Optimus was looking at Dawn, who despite being used to living with giant robots, had never felt smaller. It didn't help that she knew she deserved the scolding she was about to receive.

She moved back to let Red Alert take care of Hot Shot and turned to Side Swipe, whispering. "Could you give me a ride?"

The young Autobot was about to answer when Optimus interrupted him. "Side Swipe, help Red Alert, Dawn you're coming with me."

Dawn flinched, hearing her own name with the stern tone and Side Swipe looked at her with pity. "Sorry, no can do."

Optimus transformed back into a truck and Dawn stared at the open door hesitantly.

"Just blame it on me", Hot Shot whispered loud enough for her to hear as the two Autobots were lifting him to his feet. "I talked you into coming here."

"No you didn't", Dawn whispered back.

"Say it anyway."

"We're leaving now!" Optimus' voice boomed angrily, stopping even the other mechs for a second.

Dawn climbed into the truck reluctantly. She had barely sat down when the engine roared and they were off. She turned to look back where the others still stood. "We're not warping with them?"

No answer. Just more revving. Dawn hurried to put the seatbelt on, though she had some doubts whether Optimus would release her as long as he was still furious with her.

She did anyway, just waiting for the berating to begin, but the silence dragged on. It was almost an hour long drive back to the base and Dawn was beginning to worry she was going to get the silent treatment the whole way back.

"Would it help if I said I'm sorry", she tried to break the unbearable silence.

"Are you?"

The ice cold question made her instantly regret saying anything. "Yes. It was just… it was stupid, I know, but I simply couldn't stay cooped up in the base for one more day, it was driving me crazy. I had to get out."

"Against my direct order."

"Yes", Dawn fiddled with her fingers, glad that at least she didn't have to talk to Optimus face to face. It would've been too much to bear to have to stay under his piercing gaze when she was already feeling miserable as it was.

"You went out with Hot Shot, and the very thing I was trying to protect you from, happened."

"Optimus, the Decepticons know about me and they won't stop targeting me, but you can't keep me confined for the rest of my life because of that."

The anger came back to the Autobot leader's voice. "After today I'm starting to feel like that's exactly what I should do! Not only did you disobey my order, but you did it twice."

"And I regret the first time", Dawn spoke with more conviction now. "But I refuse to think I did wrong by going to Hot Shot's help, when he was alone against three Decepticons."

"And he still ended up the way he did. Now how exactly did that happen?"

That hit the target. Dawn fell silent. There was no good answer without outright lying.

"Dawn..."

"They just had us outnumbered… and Hot Shot was… trying to protect me…" her voice faded away at the end.

For a moment both of them stayed silent and then to Dawn's surprise, a hand reached for her shoulder. She knew Optimus had turned on his holoform, but she couldn't look at him.

"I was sure…" the Autobot leader sounded more calm again, almost sad. "…that we would be there too late. That they would've already left with you."

Dawn turned slowly to look at Optimus, who continued. "I know you, and you would've given yourself up to them without a second thought if Hot Shot's life had been threatened. How do you think I felt when I heard your distress signal and realized what was happening?"

Of course she knew how he must've felt. She had felt the same thing every time they had gone to battle the Decepticons and she had been left waiting at the base. She placed her hand on the mech's.

"I know. I'm so sorry I worried you."

"Next time at least ask me to take you outside."

"Sure", Dawn managed a little smile, which disappeared as soon as she remembered what she still had to confess.

Optimus picked up on the sudden change in her expression. "What is it?"

Dawn could hear the suspicion in the question. She lowered her hand back to her lap, bracing herself. "Something… happened."

"What exactly?"

"They did threaten Hot Shot when he went down. I tried bluffing, making it clear that it would be the last thing they'd do."

A smile lit up Optimus' optics briefly. "I believe it really would've been."

"Well, I wasn't ready to find out. It was a standoff for a while, I guess the 'cons were pretty worried too after all."

"If they weren't, they wouldn't be after you in the first place."

"Yeah…" Dawn took a deep breath, looking down. "Then… Starscream said something…"

She wished she had been anywhere else, but knowing Hot Shot would spill the beans otherwise, she had to continue. "They knew about my… weakness."

"…What!?" Optimus pulled his hand back, shocked.

"N-not what it was. Just that I had some major weakness."

Optimus relaxed slightly, which made it more difficult for her to tell the rest.

"I… had to tell them to stall for more time."

She couldn't face Optimus, but the brakes suddenly hitting the floor spoke for itself.

"You told the Decepticons how you lose your powers?!"

Dawn nodded, feeling miserable. "I… I tried lying, of course, but they saw right through me, so I had to tell."

"You… no… do you realize…" she had never seen Optimus so upset he couldn't even form a proper sentence. "You know what that means!"

"Of course. But I had no choice. Hot Shot's life…"

"You had no choice, but to send every Decepticon after you with the intention of raping you!"

Dawn flinched at the harsh tone as well as the harsh truth. Then Optimus continued and she felt her face whiten.

"Should we start guessing which one of them will do it? Maybe Thrust? There's a promising name, isn't it? Or Wheeljack? I'm sure he'd like to punish you just for being Hot Shot's friend. Or how about Megatron himself…"

"Stop it!" Dawn's hands were shaking as she fumbled her seatbelt open and reached for the door that refused to open. "Let me out before I throw up."

It opened and Dawn jumped to the ground, falling to her knees and covering her mouth with her hand. Nothing came out, but the shaking didn't stop either.

Optimus' holoform came to her side and helped her up, pulling her into a tight embrace. "I'm sorry, Dawn I'm sorry. But for Primus' sake, I simply don't know what to do about this. You have no idea of the cruelties they're capable of."

"Fortunately", Dawn said quietly. "But I'd like to know how they even found out I have a weakness when the only ones who know about it are you and Ratchet. And now Hot Shot too."

"That's a good question", Optimus mused. "And a very alarming one. If you're ready, we should get back to the base quickly."

"Let's go", Dawn agreed, silently dreading for the coming night and the nightmares that were sure to haunt her.


End file.
